

Don't give sleep-inducing drugs to Children

Kenneth Collins k.p.collins at worldnet.att.net
Tue May 13 05:44:13 EST 2003

"Lullabies in a Bottle: Prescribing for Children", By BONNIE ROTHMAN MORRIS


Wow! I've rarely read anything so alarming.

To Parents: Don't give your Children sleep-inducing drugs until:

1. you have conducted a careful survey of their diets. The goal, here, is [of course] to search for sources of caffein, etc. - cola, chocolate, coffee,  tea, whatever - and other stimulants.

Most likely, if you minimize this stuff, your Child will just 'fall' into a 'normal' sleep cycle if, in addition, you patiently assist the Child in zeroing-in on the inherent routine. [As with any such transition toward helthy Family practice, you're likely to have to go through a period of increased 'hassles' because the change from familiar trash-eating ways to other than that will constitute an instance of TD E/I(up) within your Child's nervous system. With respect to such, the Child's 'bouncy' behavior is literally [non-verbal] 'language' through which your Child's nervous system is eliciting caring behavior from you. The Child 'wants' to receive 'guidance', even if the Child is 'whining'. [See the "Infant's-crying behavior" example in AoK, Ap5. These 'sleep-difficulty' non-verbal-'language' considerations are literally the same-stuff. Be patient. It's probably the case that you've made some mis-takes in allowing your Child's diet get out of whack, so be with your Child through the transition back to healthy eating habits. You know?

2. If you don't find any 'trash' in your Child's diet, the Child is probably having difficulty sleeping because of 'stress'. The routine is much the same as above, except that usually what's 'out of whack' is your Child's 'sense of relationship' to you. You need to talk with your Child - become involved - talk about plans for stuff you'll do together. Talk, talk, talk. The Child is 'just' going to bed with 'unfinished business' - unanswered questions' with respect to her/his relationship to you.

I know this sounds overly 'hard', but gees, just give the situation what it needs. There's a bunch of work up-front, but, after you and your Child go through the behavioral-transition, if only you, then, continue Honestly talking with your Child, the workload will subside, and your whole Family dynamic will have been lifted-up to a new level in the process, through your willingness to do the extra work over the short term.

Be Gentle. The Child is literally crying-out to you [non-verbally].

If, instead of these good-Parenting practices, you 'throw drugs' at 'the problem', all you'll be doing is interfering with the extremely-important stuff that happens during 'normal' [non-drugged] sleep, and that will just make the problem worse over time.

Loving your Child by providing True Guidance is Fun after you get the hang of it. You'll reap benefits that will happen within your own nervous system. You'll just feel better all around. Your own level of 'stress' will also decrease.

Don't drug your Children.

Love them.

ken [K. P. Collins]

"KP-PC" <k.p.collins at worldnet.att.net%remove%> wrote in message news:EHIva.80149$cO3.5308203 at bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
| [...]
| All this said, everybody knows where I stand with respect to giving
| psychoactive substances to Children. I disagree with such usage,
| mainly because psychoactive substances =do= alter trophic dynamics,
| and their becoming increasingly relied upon is probably a direct
| reflection of dynamics that are analogous to these that you've
| brought up, John - behaviorally-observable intergenerational
| chemo-altered neural trophy. The Parent 'needs' the Child 'drugged'
| because the Parent's being 'drugged' as a Child renders the Parent
| more 'sensitive' to a Child's 'normal rambunctiousness'(?) Hmmmm... I
| can see that this stuff goes on 'forever' like this. Rich
| food-for-thought you've served us :-]
| [...]

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